


You Make Me Want to Stay

by harlequinxgirl



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Porn, Attraction, Biting, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Darcy has a crush, Darcy's boyfriends sucked, Drunk Sex, F/M, Hair Pulling, Hurt, Oral Sex, Porn Without Plot, Public Sex, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-09-24 21:46:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9788519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harlequinxgirl/pseuds/harlequinxgirl
Summary: “So Sarge,” she said, staring up at him, “now you have me on my own, what are you going to do with me?”





	1. Chapter 1

The whiskey was creating a pleasant burning sensation in the pit of Darcy’s stomach when Abby leaned over, her hot breath curling around the shell of Darcy’s ear.

“Holy shit!” she was exclaiming, “Check it out. The Winter Shadow’s out without his Keeper!”

Darcy followed the blonde’s line of sight to where Barnes was indeed propping up the bar without the seemingly ever-present Steve Rogers. And he looked good. Devastatingly so. Like an amplified version of every bad decision Darcy had ever made and she bit her bottom lip, turning back to face Abby. 

Abby flashed her a wicked grin that promised everything and left nothing to the imagination. 

The first morning that Abby had stepped Converse-clad foot into Jane’s lab at Stark Tower, Darcy knew that they were going to be BFFs. Abby only wore jeans that came from thrift shops, knitted her own sweaters and was hotter than hell. They were a pair made in heaven. 

She was also smart as a whip and worked in robotics. She’d been poached to help Jane and Darcy construct the equipment they would need in the lab.

And together they shared a long running history of pining after James Barnes. 

Disappointingly, he kept mostly to himself, so was a rare sight around the tower to begin with. And he was always, always, with Steve. Added to that, Darcy and Abby were under no false impressions as to their importance in the wheel that was Stark Industries. The only person who would miss them if they both disappeared was the guy who ran the coffee cart in the fourteenth floor’s food court; at least until Jane remembered how long it had been since her last Pop Tart. 

He’d come in from the cold about twelve months earlier, when Steve and Nat had tracked him down to a dingy hotel in Budapest. Tony had called an all-staff meeting soon after to explain that one of the world’s most deadly assassin’s would be moving in and Abby and Darcy had kept their eyes peeled for weeks, waiting to catch a glimpse. 

So in their little nook of the tower they were even less likely to run into a normal Avenger, let alone a reclusive one. 

Darcy let her eyes drift across the bar again. 

He was leaning heavily on the bar, staring into his drink like it was telling him his future. 

“What do you think he’s doing here?” she asked Abby who quirked her eyebrow again, letting that movement alone ask ‘really?’.

“Well obviously he’s drinking,” Darcy said with a roll of her eyes, “but why alone?”

“Maybe Cap doesn’t make a good drinking buddy?”

“What are you two whispering about?” Nick asked from across the table. 

Nick was one of the minions from R&D and since he’d joined the company six months earlier, he’d become regular companion in their antics (and, Darcy suspected, a regular addition to Abby’s bed). 

There were about a dozen of them from the office out for Friday night drinks. It was their tradition, although Darcy found herself wanting to be home in slippers eating cereal more often than not these days. She must be getting old. 

She tried to pull her best ‘Who? Me?’ face but failed miserably when Nick stole a glance over his shoulder at what had preoccupied she and Abby, giving them a disapproving look.

“What is it with that dude that women get so overheated about?”

“His thighs” Jane replied from the other side of Abby. 

Everyone turned to stare at her.

“What?” She asked, “He can wear the hell out of a pair of tac pants is all I’m saying”. She turned her attention back to her drink while Darcy tried to stifle a giggle. 

An hour later she was on her own. 

When Abby had yawned exaggeratedly, Nick caught her eye and suggested that he himself was pretty tired, perhaps they should share a cab. Darcy had rolled her eyes and hugged them goodbye, letting them think they were being sneaky. 

She could head home, but the night was still young and it was one of the rare evenings these days that she didn’t feel ready for a shower, slippers, and Netflix. Instead, she wandered towards the now more-crowded bar, trying to position herself to get served. 

She finally found a seat away from the main throng. The bar was underground and with no windows and a long flight of stairs leading to the street, it could feel claustrophobic on a busy night. Darcy pulled out her phone, scrolling through Tumblr as she downed her Old Fashioned.

In her periphery she saw another drink get placed in front of her and looked up in surprise into the grey eyes she and Abby had waxed lyrical over for the past year. 

“Hi,” she stuttered, slipping her phone into her purse. 

Barnes slid into the seat next to her and hunched over his own drink. 

After the initial shock of seeing him at the bar had worn off she had become engaged again in the conversation with her friends from work, forgetting he was there at all until they left. She hadn’t been able to see him and had assumed he’d gone too. But now he was here, sitting next to her, close enough for her to reach out and touch him, see if he’s real. 

“Thanks for the drink,” she said, picking it up and sipping from it. 

He turned to meet her eyes and nodded. He was about as communicative in person as she would have expected, but the whiskey couldn’t compete with the heat that hit her from his gaze. He’d never so much as looked at her before. 

He had been brought, obviously grudgingly, to the labs when he first arrived. It was part of the campaign to normalise his presence in the tower, getting out to meet everybody and show them you can keep your cool. He had shuffled in two steps behind Steve Rogers and Tony Stark and kept his eyes trained on a spot behind Darcy’s head when he shook her hand. 

Now those eyes were trained right at hers and she had a flash of every stupid descriptor her collection of trashy romance novels had used to describe the look he was giving her. She got the feeling that she finally understood the meaning of the word ‘smouldering’. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked him, having to raise her voice to be heard over the music, willing it not to waver.

People were starting to pack the small, dark dancefloor and a new DJ had taken over the decks. Darcy’s eyes flitted to the bodies moulding together. What would his body feel like close to hers? Okay, she needed to stop this or she would embarrass herself. She could already her lips becoming looser and she couldn’t remember how many drinks she’d had, a sure sign that the answer to that question was a firm ‘enough’. 

“Just killin’ time til I could get you on your own,” he replied, leaning in close so he didn’t need to raise his voice, she could hear him perfectly. A shiver ran down her and she leaned back, chewing on her lip and pressing her thighs together under her skirt. 

“You don’t even know me,” she said, smoothing down her skirt and hoping he wouldn’t notice as she dug her fingernails into her thighs to try and ground herself. 

He stared at her like he was taking inventory, then frowned.

“Darcy Lewis, you’re chief assistant to Jane Foster. You work on the fifteenth floor of the tower and the blonde in Chuck’s who was here earlier works with you”

“Okay, so you know who I am”

She reached for her drink again and gulped it down while he surveyed her with what might generously have been called amusement.

These kinds of things didn’t happen to her. She wasn’t the kind of girl who got propositioned by hot virtual-strangers in bars. That girl was sexy and empowered. Darcy…wasn’t. She was the pal, the goofball, the-partner-in-crime who, after a while, maybe you start to see as something more. But Barnes didn’t know that about her. He didn’t know her, not apart from her name and job title. Was it possible that he saw her as that other girl?

She chanced a look up into his eyes and was pinned beneath the weight of the gaze he was levelling at her. He definitely saw her as that other girl. And she liked that feeling, it was sending rolling of heat straight to her core and she shifted on the seat to intensify it. 

She finished her drink and placed the glass on the bar before leaning back in closer to Barnes and letting the many whiskeys do the talking.

“So Sarge,” she said, staring up at him, “now you have me on my own, what are you going to do with me?”

Her response seemed to do strange things to him. His eyes closed for a moment and she noticed his right hand ball into a fist as he seemed to take a deep breath. She thrilled at her ability to have this effect. Who knew?

She reached out and took his hand in hers, his eyes flying open at the contact. 

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” she told him, tracing her fingers over his palm, hoping he would get the message.

Her legs were like melting butter as she slid from the stool and she prayed she’d make it across the bar without falling on her ass. When she looked back over one shoulder, she saw him slip off his own stool and start to follow her. She grinned to herself. This was happening. 

She slipped into the unisex toilets (fucking hipster bars) and allowed herself a deep breath before the door opened again and she felt him behind her, the heat from his body curling towards her.

Then his hands were on her hips, turning her to face him as he backed them into one of the cubicles. Even in heels he towered over her. She’d never noticed how big he was until she saw him from this angle. She tilted her face up and watched his eyes flicker to her lips. 

All at once she felt her back hit the cubicle door and she never got the chance to recover her breath before his lips mashed against hers, moving hungrily, without the finesse she expected, as though he couldn’t afford the time. 

She gasped as he pulled away and fell to his knees in front of her, his hands curling around the backs of her legs beneath the fabric of her skirt. Best day ever to ditch her thick black tights. 

She leaned her head back as his hands, the left one gloved to save the stares, slid up the backs of her thighs. He leaned his forehead against her belly and crooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties, dragging them slowly downwards and supporting her legs as she stepped out of them. 

He tucked the flimsy black lace into his jeans pocket and stood to his feet again, crushing her lips with his and cupping her breasts with his huge hands, flicking his thumbs across the hard pebbles of her nipples and making her shudder. 

Darcy had never done anything like this before and she felt like her whole body could collapse at any point. 

She tangled her fingers in his hair.

“This is a bad idea” she muttered as his lips moved to her throat.

“You can’t always make the smart decisions Lewis,” he rasped against the soft skin and she shivered again as he dealt with his belt buckle. 

She reached out to help, batting his hands away so she could focus, slipping her hands inside his pants to feel his hard length. Her eyes widened at the size, it had been a while for her, it would feel like being split open. 

Darcy made a fist around his hard length and dragged it up and down a few times, revelling in the feel of the velvety flesh against her palm, and the sensation of Bucky sagging against her. Finally he reached down and stopped her movements, before hiking up her skirt around her hips. 

Her cheeks flushed as he bared her, but she only had a second to feel embarrassed before she was being lifted up against the door and he was wrapping her legs around his hips. She’d never been delicate, not like Jane and Abby who looked like they could snap if you handled them the wrong way. But in Barnes' hands she felt tiny and breakable as he pinned her to the door.

She was embarrassingly wet and he groaned as he dipped a finger into her and then touched it to his lips. Darcy had been using her hands to grip the top of the door, but he was holding her securely with his body, so she let them drift to tangle in his hair and tug his face towards hers in a bruising kiss. She gasped into it and felt his tongue trace her lips. 

He reached down to his cock, nudging against her entrance and thrusting his hips forward violently, driving into her all at once and drawing a cry out of her that he stifled with their kiss. He reached up to where her hands were hanging limply around his neck, catching her wrists and pinning them by the sides of her head in a bruising grip as he set a punishing pace.

She’d been right, it was like being split open, but in the best way as the pain bled into pleasure, the two mingling and heightening and the sensations. Barnes shifted angles and her head began knocking against the door with each thrust. She felt his gloved hand reach to cradle her head, protecting it as he snapped his hips into hers. 

She tightened her legs around him and could feel the sensations building into something more, a burning feeling in her core that she could almost grasp. Her stomach muscles grew taught and her breath was coming in gasps. Barnes pulled back to stare at her, his eyes dark and his pupils blown wide with lust.

He leaned back in and sank his teeth into her plump lower lip. 

She felt the skin break and cried out, but it was that small burst of pain that carried her over, her orgasm shattering her from the inside out. Barnes was quick to swallow her cries in a kiss as she thrashed against the waves of pleasure radiating through her.

Her fucked her through her orgasm, the door rattling in its hinges with each powerful thrust but Darcy was too wrecked to care about whether they were drawing any attention. His lips moved down to her collarbone and the generous cleavage exposed even by the modest cardigan. He shifted them again and was suddenly hitting her G-spot and she unexpectedly felt another orgasm forming. 

She bit down on her lip where Barnes had previously, opening the wound again and tasting blood. She bucked her hips against his, wanting him harder, deeper. He dropped his forehead to her chest and grasped her wrists again, pounding into her and she felt her release wash over her.

Barnes grunted as her walls constricted around her and with two more snaps of his hips, he was coming too. Their heavy breathing was all she could hear. He let go of her wrists and she threaded her fingers through his sweat-damp hair as he laid his cheek against her breast. 

Darcy didn't think it was possible to feel much more sexy and empowered that in the arms of a Super Soldier who was a stranger to you half an hour ago but just made you come twice in as many minutes. Maybe she was that other kind of girl after all.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh my God!" Abby gasped, "Is that a sex injury?!"
> 
> Thank you soooooo much for all of your amazing comments and also for the inspiration that some of you decided to leave. That was unexpected and awesome!!
> 
> This chapter takes place over a couple of weeks, but should be easy enough to follow. Significant passages of time are marked with ***.

By 9.30 on Monday morning Darcy was already desperate for coffee. She caught Abby’s eye across the lab and quirked an eyebrow. Abby nodded and dropped what she was working on.

“We’re going for coffee Boss Lady” she called out to Jane while she rifled through her bag for her purse.

Jane grunted from where she was tampering with one of the machines.

“I will take that to mean ‘Great Darcy, I’ll have a mocha latte’”. 

 

As Darcy reached to hand the cashier her card, the long sleeve of her shirt rode up her forearm, exposing the bruising around her right wrist. 

“Holy Jeebuz Darc! What happened?” Abby cried, reaching for Darcy’s wrist to take a better look. 

“Nothing,” Darcy said quickly, tucking her card back in her wallet.

“Nothing?! The bruises go right around your wrists! God it looks like someone held you…” her voice lowered suddenly and she stepped in closer to Darcy.

“Oh my god! Is it a sex injury?” She hissed, as she snatched for Darcy’s wrist again, twisting it over to inspect it properly. 

Darcy had been pretty mortified to discover the large, finger shaped bruises wrapped around her wrists on Saturday morning. They, combined with a fuzzy mouth and a stomach that turned at the mere thought of fermented rye, served as a strong reminder of the night before. 

After she had come down from her sex-high, Barnes had helped her stand on her treacherous legs. She’d pulled her skirt down as he’d tucked himself back into his pants and smoothed his hands through his tousled hair. 

He’d reached around her to unlock the cubicle door and together they stepped out into the restroom. Less than one hundred words had passed between them in the whole night. 

She touched her wrist absently and smiled at the ground, nodding.

Abby backed her away from the coffee cart and started quizzing her.

“When did this happen?”

“Over the weekend” Darcy replied sheepishly.

“But I talked to you yesterday and you said you went to bed early the night before and had no plans for the rest of the day”

Darcy shrugged.

“Unless…Friday night! You hooked up with someone after we left! Who was it?”

“Just a dude”

Abby cocked her head to the side. She wasn’t buying it. Darcy didn’t hook up with just any dude. Abby frowned and looked again down at Darcy’s wrist, now re-covered by her long shirt sleeves. 

“Oh my gosh”

Abby’s eyes grew wide and she cupped a hand to her mouth. Darcy grabbed her arm, pleading with her eyes for Abby to shut up.

“Oh my…did you…did you fuck the Winter Soldier?” Abby whispered shrilly. 

Darcy grimaced and nodded.

“Just, shut up Abby. Be cool”

“Be cool?” Abby asked, clearly affronted, “Who are you talking to here? How can you tell me something like this and except me to keep my cool?!”

Darcy grinned.

“Because if you don’t I won’t give you all the goss”.

 

Once their coffees were finished they found a quiet corner.

“So how did this happen?”

“Well,” Darcy began, smiling as she remembered Barnes bringing her drink to her, “after you guys left I decided to have one last drink and while I was at the bar he came over. He bought me a drink and, well, one thing led to another.”

“And you just took him home?”

“Well…”

“Oh, so _he_ took _you_ home?”

Darcy bit her lip and Abby frowned.

“No”

Darcy shrugged.

“You fucked him there? At the bar? You are my hero!”

Just relaying the story to Abby was doing strange things to Darcy, like she was reliving the encounter all over again. She’d already relived it multiple times over the weekend, in her bedroom, with her fingers (a poor imitation) tracing where he had been. She felt lit up. Like a Chinese lantern, burning from the inside out. She’d never felt that way before. 

It wasn’t as though she was passive, or a prude; she’d been honing her moves since she lost it to Lucas Koenig after a sophomore dance. It just seemed like that chemistry that so many people around her seemed to never be able to shut about, just passed her by. Sex with Barnes though, made her realise why people were always raving about it. 

Sure, sex was enjoyable. But an earth shattering, life changing experience? Not in Darcy’s book. Well, not until Friday anyway.

“So now what?”

Darcy blinked, broken from her thoughts. 

“What do you mean?”

“Did you swap numbers? Are you going to see him again?”  
After they’d left the bathroom, Darcy had allowed herself to be steered through the crowded bar. Outside on the street Barnes had flagged down a taxi and opened the door for her. Once she was in he had tapped the roof.

“Sleep well Lewis,” he told her through the open window as the cab rolled away. 

So one hundred and two words in total. 

No number exchange, no plans to meet. 

“I uh, I don’t know. It all happened so fast. I mean not _that_ part, that part was appropriately timed…”

Abby stifled a giggle. 

“But uh, yeah no number swap, no dates”

Abby bit her lip.

“Well maybe..” she started, but Darcy held up her hand.

“Please, no pity”

“No pity.” Abby promised, “What is there to pity? You got to fuck one of the hottest guys in New York on Friday. Who know? Maybe it’ll happen again, maybe it won’t, but you’ll always have that. I’m just glad you weren’t too drunk to remember it!”

Darcy grinned, she had the best friends. 

 

***

Darcy hadn’t seen any sign of Barnes since he’d put her in a taxi ten days earlier. The team had gone out again the following Friday to the same bar and she had half expected to see him there, leaning on the bar, waiting for her. And even under threat of torture she would never admit to being disappointed that she was going home alone after a couple of drinks. 

Darcy had a standing date on the third Thursday of each month, and that’s how she found herself picking through a meal of sushi with her friend Rachael. They had met at an ill-advised spin class and shared a love of trying out new food from any of the numerous restaurants that popped up around the city.

At the end of the meal Rachael had been keen for drinks but Darcy hadn’t been feeling it and called herself an Uber instead. 

It was waiting for her by the time she left the restaurant. She climbed into the back seat and had just closed her door when the one opposite opened. She was about to turn around and tell whoever it was that this wasn’t a damn share-ride and they could order their own. But instead of some random, it was Barnes sliding in next to her.

“What are you doing?” she asked, trying to keep her voice level. 

The driver turned around, surprised at the unexpected passenger. 

Barnes stared at her for a moment before buckling his seat belt with an air of finality. 

“What are you doing here Barnes?” Her voice was softer now, for his ears only. 

In the dim interior light she could see a bruise blossoming across the left side of his face, and a cut already healing above his right eyebrow. He looked tired. 

He reached across and picked up a piece of her hair, twirling it around his finger.

“I don’t have to come,” he said quietly. His voice was rough, like this was his first time using it in a while. “Not if you don’t want me to.”

“No!” She said, embarrassingly quickly, “I do.”

He let go of the strands of hair and moved his hand to lie, heavy and hot on her upper thigh. 

The Uber driver was throwing her concerned glances in the rear view mirror and Darcy smiled to reassure him.

“It’s okay,” she said, “we can go.”

The car moved slowly through the clogged city streets and she chanced a glance in his direction. He was staring out the window into the night with a look of practiced calm, but she could feel tension radiating from him. 

He turned and his eyes caught hers. She shifted under the weight of his gaze and his hand tightened on her leg. He was wearing dark jeans with a grey Henley that looked soft with use and an unbuttoned navy blue peacoat. 

His denim-clad thigh was pressed against her own and she was resisting the urge to move from her seat and on to his lap as they moved through the traffic towards imminent sex. How was this her life now?

The car finally pulled to a stop in front of her apartment building in Hell’s Kitchen. Darcy was still fumbling in her purse for her wallet as Barnes got out and paid the Uber driver. He extended his hand to her impatiently and when she took it he tugged her from the car with a force that sent her crashing into him. 

He grasped her shoulders to steady her and Darcy fought to catch her breath. She located her keys in her purse and stepped around Barnes, leading him to the doorway of the apartment building.

The elevator had been out of order pretty much since Darcy had moved in the previous year so she automatically headed for the stairs, trying to keep her breath even. He moved with a grace she didn’t share and while she couldn’t hear his light footfalls, she could feel him just behind her, all heat and promise. 

When they reached the third floor she crossed to her apartment, unlocking the door and then leaning against it to open it because it always kind of stuck. 

She flicked the light on as she came through the door and continued across the room to lay her purse on the breakfast table. 

“So,” she began, turning to face him. But Barnes had done that thing again, moving like a fucking ninja so he was right behind her. And then his arms were around her and his lips were crushing against hers in a bruising kiss, and she felt like she could no longer breathe on her own. 

Her jacket dropped to the floor and Darcy wrapped her arms around Barnes’ waist, her fingers brushing across the stiff wool of his coat. His lips were soft against hers and he licked into her mouth. 

She pulled away and before he could fully register her intention, had dropped to her knees, her fingers finally finding unity to work together in undoing the button and zipper on his jeans. She tugged his jeans down, releasing his cock and leaning forward to run her tongue up the length of it. She looked up at him and felt a pull in her stomach at the darkness of his eyes, and the way his mouth hung slightly open. 

She wrapped her hands around his beautiful thighs and set to work on taking the Winter Soldier apart with her mouth, tongue and a hint of teeth, sending up silent prayers of thanks to a short-lived bisexual ex-boyfriend who had passed on his not inconsiderable knowledge of sucking dick. Soon after she felt his hands fisting in her hair and let him guide her movements until he was fucking himself into her mouth. 

Darcy felt his cock hit the back of her throat and swallowed around him, drawing a lengthy and stuttered groan from him. His hands tightened in her hair, just the right side of painful, and his movements increased in speed as that gravelly voice washed over her.

“So good. Fuck! That mouth! So good for me”

His breathing was starting to sound as laboured as hers had earlier and she moaned around him. That seemed to be what pushed him over the edge as he fucked her mouth once more and she felt his come hit the back of her throat. His fingers loosened in her hair as she swallowed him. 

He finally let go and offered her his hand as she climbed to shaky, coltish legs. He pulled her towards him and she felt him, still hard, against her stomach as his lips covered hers. His hands were already at the hem of her dress as he moved them towards the huge bed that took up most of Darcy’s studio apartment. He managed to pull it up and over her head before pushing her back onto it and removing his own shirt. 

He kicked off his jeans and boxers, unabashedly naked. But, Darcy supposed, when you looked like that, nakedness wouldn’t bother you. She hadn’t had the chance to see him like this during their last encounter and she took the opportunity to look her fill as he busied himself with removing her tights and panties. 

He looked up at her, one eyebrow quirked in question and Darcy shook her head as he placed a kiss against the inside of her left ankle and then let his lips wander slowly up her leg. She shivered and her hips bucked when he placed a chaste kiss against the inside of her knee. Who knew that was an erogenous zone?

She knew where this was heading. And though she’d always wanted to see what else his plump lips were good for other than a smirk, she’d never been a huge fan of oral. The whole thing just felt a little uncouth to tell the truth and she was about to stop him, maybe hook one of her feet behind him to give him the message to just fuck her already, when he surged forward and swirled his tongue around her clit. She fell back against the bed, shuddering and shaking and momentarily forgetting her name. His breath was hot against her and then she could feel his tongue again, flat now, and pressing against her. And then moving inside her and making her squirm and swear in huffing little breaths. 

Oh boy. Those other times when this had felt kind of slimy and weird and just un-sexy…fuck she had been doing it wrong. Or the guys had been doing it wrong. Because this. This. This was fucking it. She cried out and found herself bucking her hips shamelessly to meet the motions of Barnes’ skilled lips and tongue.

His left hand had moved under her hip to hold her in place and she gasped as she felt first one, and then a second finger from his right hand enter her, starting up a punishing pace and curving up to hit her g-spot and Darcy was suddenly very thankful that her corner apartment meant she only had one neighbour to disturb with her cries. 

She could feel her orgasm building, a fire low in her stomach that Barnes was mercilessly stoking, devouring her like a starving man. The fingers of his left hand, the metal now warm from the heat of her flesh, bit into her hip and she relished the small pain as his tongue beat mercilessly against her. 

She reached down to tangle her fingers in his unkempt hair and was rewarded when he growled against her, sending vibrations through her core.

”Fuck” she moaned, sucking in a breath and biting her lip as she felt her orgasm wash over her. Her hips thrashed and she threw her head back against the pillows crying out his name as he continued to lap at her. 

“Stop, God, please stop,” she moaned, trying to pull away from him, but he held her still.

“Why?” he asked, the words falling against her inner thigh. 

“It’s too much,” she whispered, pressing her hands over her eyes as her orgasm continued to flutter inside her, “please”.

Barnes pressed a kiss against her clit, making her hips buck again, and moved back onto his knees, pulling Darcy up to him to lay a kiss against her mouth. She could taste herself on him and moaned into the kiss. She traced her hands lightly up his torso and across the area where the metal of his left arm knitted to scarred and gnarled flesh making him shiver beneath her fingers.

Darcy leaned her forehead against his.

“I’ve never…” she began, the words falling softly from her swollen lips.

“Never what?” Barnes asked, his voice rasping.

“Just, never…that,” she babbled, “I’ve never enjoyed that”

The corner of his mouth tugged into a smirk.

“Well they obviously didn’t know what they were doing,” he whispered against her lips before cupping her head and slanting his mouth over hers. 

Darcy let herself melt into the kiss, and felt it change into something more as Barnes seem to become more possessive, more desperate. He grasped at her and tugged her close so their sweat slick bodies moved as one and then his left hand was smooth and heavy on her hip and he was shifting her onto her hands and knees and lining himself up behind her. Her orgasm had left her feeling heavy and boneless at the same time and she let herself be manoeuvred; only crying out when she felt him enter her.

He set a punishing pace with his hips, his fingers digging in to hers, no doubt leaving new bruises for her to remember him by. He was whispering things, filthy things, things he wanted to do to her, things he wanted done to him and she felt her insides fluttering. 

He pulled her up so she was kneeling on the bed and leaning back against the hard planes of his chest. He drove into her again and again, his left arm wrapped around her middle and his right hand grasping her breast, her nipple twisting between his fingers and making her cry out.

His rhythm stuttered and he held her close as he came with a soft groan. 

As she caught her breath, he pulled away from her and flopped down on the bed. He looked good spread out on her bed, completed fucked out and wrecked. It was a sight she could get frighteningly used to.

“I’m going to take a shower” she said, standing up and heading for the small en suite.

Darcy was scrubbing conditioner through her hair when she remembered what she had forgotten to ask him.

“How did you know where I was tonight?” she called out.

The apartment was quiet but she knew he was still there, she could still feel his presence. 

“JARVIS” he eventually replied. 

“Stark’s AI?”

Darcy was familiar with JARVIS, but perhaps not as fully as she could have been. For her the AI was mostly an iPod playlist selection device. 

“The font of all knowledge” 

Evidently. 

She turned off the shower and slipped into her robe, towelling off her hair. Despite the massive meal she’d had earlier, she was hungry again.

“Do you like Korean food?” she asked as she came out of the bathroom, “there’s a great little place…”

He was fully dressed and reaching for his coat.

“I’ve got to go,” he said.

“Oh…”

He shrugged into his coat and crossed to where she stood. 

“I’ll see you around,” he said, laying a chaste kiss on her forehead almost as an afterthought and then he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I would love to hear how you're enjoying the story and any ideas you have about or for it. Mostly I want to ensure that the story is meeting your expectations and hopes.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What? You don’t like hearing a lady say ‘fuck’?”
> 
> He smirked at her. 
> 
> “Aww Doll, you ain’t no lady”

“So where the fuck did he think he was going to ‘see you around’?” Abby asked, “We hardly move in the same circles”.

She held her hand out and Darcy passed her the tiny screwdriver from her eyeglass repair kit.

“Ugh I don’t know. I mean, isn’t that just something you say? You never mean it,” Darcy moaned, hiding her head in her hands.

Abby didn’t look up from where she was tinkering on the lab counter.

“What an asshole”

Darcy mumbled something that could just as easily have been an agreement as a refute.

“Is Doodle going to be okay?” she asked.

Abby grunted and flipped the tiny robot back up the right way.

“Let’s see,” she said, as she reached for the remote. 

Abby had created Doodle to help out when the girls were busy in the lab and couldn’t take the time to go down to the coffee cart. The little robot had the capacity to travel down in the elevator and pick up their coffees by syncing with JARVIS who would navigate things like security doors. Something had gone wrong on the last trip though and Doodle had lost a leg. 

Abby flicked the switch and the robot stood to attention. Darcy cheered and Abby moved it to the floor where it promptly scuttled off.

“Now,” she said, “I believe we were talking about what an asshole he is, and how we’re not giving him the time of day anymore”

 

Later that afternoon Darcy was hunched over her laptop finishing up some data entry when the doors to the lab glided open. She glanced up from her work just as Tony Stark waltzed in, followed shortly by Steve Rogers and, trailing behind him, Barnes. 

Trying to hide her shock, Darcy’s eyes flew to Abby’s as Jane greeted the men. This was _not_ a usual occurrence. In fact, Darcy could count on one hand the amount of times she had seen Tony in the lab, let alone Tony with the Captain and the Winter Soldier in tow. 

She let her treacherous eyes linger over Barnes, kitted out in tactical pants and a tee shirt that hung tantalisingly from the frame she felt like she knew by heart now. She glanced quickly again at Abby who was shooting her a glare that said _goddammit woman, stick to your guns!_

Jane stuffed her uncapped whiteboard marker in the pocket of her newly white lab coat where it promptly began to leak and Darcy rolled her eyes heavenward. 

“Doctor Foster,” Stark said in greeting before turning to Darcy and Abbey, “Minions” he greeted them and Darcy scowled. 

“I was wondering what you could tell me about this,” he said, slapping Doodle down on the counter. Darcy and Abby glanced at each other.

“Um…” Abby began.

“It’s a robot” Jane said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I _know_ it’s a robot,” Tony replied, “I want to know what it’s doing here and who made it”

“His name is Doodle” Darcy blurted out, blushing scarlet as the words escaped her lips.

Tony turned to her, one eyebrow quirked.

“Okay, what is _Doodle_ doing here, and who made it?”

“I made it” Abby said finally, “and it gets our coffee for us…at least it did, until it went AWOL this   
morning”. 

“Your coffee?” he asked, his voice incredulous. 

“And sometimes muffins” Darcy clarified.

Barnes snorted at that and Darcy fixed a stony glare on him.

“You have something to say soldier?”

Steve Rogers straightened at her tone.

“Miss Lewis, this is James Barnes, and he didn’t mean anything by that”

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, directing the comment at Barnes but barely glancing at him.

“We’ve met actually” he replied gruffly.

Darcy knitted her eyebrows together as though trying to recall some long lost memory.

“We have?” she asked, feeling Abby’s eyes on her. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember”.

“Well, this is all very…weird and everything,” Stark said, butting in, “but back to the coffee-bot. Why didn’t I know that you,” he pointed to Abby, “could make something like this?”

“I was hired as part of your robotics and engineering intern program,” Abby said. Tony scratched his beard absently. “You _literally_ sat on my hiring panel where we talked about my advanced degree in robotics”

“Yeah this isn’t ringing any bells kid, but the Sergeant’s prosthetic is giving me all kinds of headaches and I could use some help. You interested?”

Abby’s mouth dropped open and she looked over at Barnes’ arm the way Darcy looked at other parts of him.

“Are you trying to poach my staff Stark?” Jane demanded. 

“Just a temporary reassignment,” he promised, “and you can keep that one” he added, indicating Darcy. 

Abby tried to his her excitement but she had been obsessed with the hardware in the Winter Soldier’s arm ever since he’d shown up at the Tower. She’d joked around with Darcy after the guys left, offering to reprogram it or give it an obnoxious paint job. Darcy wasn’t an idiot though, it was a great opportunity for her friend and she was pleased for her. She just wished he hadn’t had to have come with Tony and stand there, three feet away from her, acting like he hadn’t left her place as quickly as his super soldier feet could carry him the night before. 

Darcy mused on this as she waited for the elevator. Abby had been as outraged as a best friend should be when Darcy told her about Barnes’ behaviour the night before. And Darcy understood the sentiment, she really did. But another part of her seemed to cry out for him. She had just barely held it together when he’d swept into the lab with Stark that morning. It was as though there was some kind of line strung between them that pulled taught when he was close and made her want to throw herself into his arms. 

The elevator pinged and Darcy stepped through the doors, nodding politely at the couple already in it and pressing the button for the twenty-third floor where HR was located. The couple got off a couple of floors later and when she was alone, the speaker in the elevator crackled to life.

“Miss Lewis?”

She automatically looked up.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes Miss Lewis. Following our…discussion this morning, I thought it prudent to inform you that Sergeant Barnes has just consulted me as to your whereabouts in the Tower.”

Darcy smiled at the AI’s choice of words. Their ‘discussion’ had mostly consisted of Darcy cussing out the ceiling of the lab when she arrived early, letting Jarvis know that it was _not cool_ to tell Barnes where she was whenever he asked. 

“Oh?”

“Shall I tell him where you can be found?”

“Um…”

As Darcy was still trying to make up her mind, the elevator came to a stop and of course, when the doors opened, Barnes was there anyway. 

“Lewis,” he greeted her as he stepped in to the elevator.

“Sergeant Barnes” she replied as he beside her and the doors closed. 

“Nice to meet you?” he asked, staring straight ahead. 

The elevator began to move again and Darcy shrugged. 

“You’d prefer if I’d reminisced about how you couldn’t get out of my apartment quick enough just a few hours earlier?”

She’d been aiming for cool and unaffected and winced at the hurt she could hear in her own voice. Beside her his stance remained rigid. 

“Nothing to say huh?” she asked, “fucking typical”.

They travelled in silence for a few moments.

“I thought women were supposed to be more liberated these days” he finally said, turning to face her. 

Darcy’s mouth dropped open.

“What?”

He had the good grace to look uncomfortable at the turn the conversation had taken.

“Yeah,” Darcy finally said, “women are more liberated these days…but that doesn’t mean we don’t stand up for ourselves. And it doesn’t make us fuck toys”

He winced and she laughed.

“What? You don’t like hearing a lady say ‘fuck’?”

He smirked at her. 

“Aww Doll, you ain’t no lady”

The Brooklyn drawl hit her full on with that line and she had to struggle to hold on to her anger.

“Fuck you” she spat, moving to slap him. 

He shot her a grin and grasped her hand in his right. With his left he reached across to depress the emergency stop button on the elevator. It shuddered to a stop, causing Darcy to teeter on her high heels. He arms reached out to steady her and pulled her to him. 

“You only had to ask,” he whispered roughly before covering her lips with his own. 

Darcy brought her hands up to his chest, trying to push him away from her but he held her close, shifting so he could move one of his legs between hers. She struggled not to moan, trying desperately to remember all the promises she had made to Abby that morning. 

She felt her back hit the wall and Barnes hitched her leg up to his thigh. She could feel him hard against her already and flushed at the realisation. 

As his tongue licked into her mouth she seemed to recover her senses. She carded her fingers through his hair and took control of the kiss, nipping lightly at his plump bottom lip and shifting her hips to move against him. He moaned and she grinned into the kiss. 

Darcy tightened her fingers in his hair, tugging on the strands as his hands moved to grasp her breasts through her shirt. With her right she reached out to the bank of buttons on the elevator wall and pressed the emergency stop button a second time. 

Barnes pulled back from her as the elevator started moving again and Darcy stepped back down onto solid ground, running her hands through her hair and straightening her shirt as they approached her floor. 

Barnes was still breathing heavily when she stepped in close and whispered to him that she’d never known he was such a fucking moaner. 

The elevator came to a stop once more and Darcy stepped through the doors before turning to glance at him over her should. 

“I’ll see you around Sergeant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there it is. Thank you so much for continuing to support this story and send in your lovely comments. It gives me such a thrill each time I see a new one. And I'm thrilled to bits that people are enjoying the original characters as I often find they can be either annoying or watered down. 
> 
> Also, if anybody is interested, I'd love a beta for this story.
> 
> Thanks again and talk soon. xoxo


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It feels as though it’s been a lifetime since I’ve updated this story. This chapter gave me so many problems to wrestle with but I think I’ve finally shaped it into something I’m halfway happy with. I hope you guys like it and I will try desperately to update within the next few days and not leave you waiting so darn long. 
> 
> Many thanks to my awesome beta reader [turntostone](http://archiveofourown.org/users/turntostone/pseuds/turntostone) for her advice and encouragement with this chapter. I'm sorry for changing the ending on you!

Darcy’s mouth watered as the entrée arrived; herb bread smothered in pesto and parmesan cheese and then grilled. She reached out for a slice but Abby batted her hand away.

“Let it cool Lewis.”

Darcy pouted and sank back in the booth they were sharing with Jane and Nick.

Tony and the rest of the team were away on a mission, so Abby wasn’t needed to help out in his workshop. It was a slow day in the lab and they were waiting on deliveries; so they had decided a long lunch was in order at Del Zotto’s, a nearby Italian diner. Somehow, Nick had appeared just as they were leaving the tower- causing Jane and Darcy to share a knowing eye roll.

Nick was now seated so close to Abby that he was practically in her lap; and Darcy was sure that if she chanced a peek under the table, they’d be playing footsy or handsy or something else entirely (thinking they had everybody fooled).

Darcy wondered if she’d been that obvious during her… _thing_ with Barnes. Whatever that was.

 _Over_ is what it was. That’s what she had to keep reminding herself. There hadn’t been any sign of him since their tryst in the elevator and that was nearly a month ago.

That shouldn’t be surprising. Not considering that in the entire time he’d been living in the tower, she could count on one hand the glimpses she’d caught of him. But it felt different now. She expected to see him everywhere. She held her breath each time the lab door swung open, and then tried to deny the disappointment she definitely _didn’t_ feel when it was never him.

It wasn’t like either of them was relationship material. And she certainly hadn’t wanted that from him. He wasn’t exactly the kind of guy you could take home to meet the parents. But hey, she wouldn’t have been opposed to a couple of more rolls in the proverbial hay.

She felt silly when her mind turned to thoughts like these. Like all of those girlfriends of hers in high school, and even in college, who would lose weeks mooning and crying over some guy they’d slept with on a whim and then expected more from. Darcy wasn’t crying, but she certainly felt like she was mooning; getting lost in the memories of how dark his eyes could get when they came together, the feel of his muscles shifting and working beneath her fingertips as she brushed them across the broad expanse of his back.

She fidgeted with the laminate on the table, scratching and picking at it with her nail until Jane reached over and slapped her.

“What’s up with you today Darce?” She asked, “You’re so agitated and antsy.”

Darcy shrugged like a teenager and sat back again.

“She’s been like it all week actually,” Abby chimed in unhelpfully.

Jane nodded like she was thinking back on it.

“Yeah, you _have_ been kinda fidgety and annoying all week.”

“Jeez, thanks boss lady,” Darcy scoffed.

Jane waved her off and Darcy broke off a piece of bread, stuffing it in her mouth.

“So what’s up Darce?” Nick asked as Abby gave her a knowing look.

“Maybe she just needs to get laid,” Jane suggested.

Darcy choked on her bread.

Unfazed, Jane reached over to thump her on the back, keeping up a commentary on her sex life at the same time. “I mean, it’s not as though I keep a diary or anything, but it has been a while for her.”

“Maybe we can help,” Nick suggested, copping an elbow to the ribs from Abby.

“Not that way,” he protested, “I just mean, maybe I know a guy.”

Darcy glared at her and swallowed the last of her bread.

“Thank you _all_ for your concern, but I can look after my own sex life.”

 _Yeah, keep telling yourself that Lewis_.

 

It was later that afternoon- while Abby, Darcy and Jane were all bent over their respective work- that an IM from one of the science minions down the hall popped up on Darcy’s computer with a link.  
It brought up a news station’s live stream.

At first it was difficult to tell what was going on; the scenes being shown were chaotic. Streets were filled with smoke and debris. A news reader was speaking over the muted sounds of screaming. Abby crossed to see what it was.

“Oh my God is that Seattle?” she asked, leaning in to read the announcement below the video.

_Again, what we are seeing here are the shocking scenes of a confrontation taking place in down town Seattle between members of the ‘Avengers’ and an unidentified terrorist cell._

Darcy had JARVIS switch the view from her laptop to the huge screen that they used for projecting Jane’s data and the three of them watched as the battle waged.

It was different; Darcy thought, when you knew the heroes outside of their uniforms and their symbols. When you- knew the inflection Tony Stark used when he said your name, had seen Cap carrying boxes to help a new staff member move offices. Or; had had the Winter Soldier skin to skin in your bed.

Darcy felt her heart leap into her throat when Barnes appeared on screen. She’d never noticed him in footage before; he was usually on a rooftop somewhere. But here he was; stalking the streets of downtown Seattle, firing his rifle repeatedly at the terrorists.

Even with the grainy footage she could see the steely set of his jaw as he fired again and again, not backing down; and when he was within an arm’s length of a group of them, he switched to hand-to-hand combat. He would have looked robotic if his movements weren’t so graceful.

“Jesus!” Abby breathed out as the footage cut back to the studio.

A peppy host quickly provided some context for the footage- explaining that the threat was controlled and a clean-up effort was now underway- before introducing an analyst for comment.

Darcy was lost in thought: oscillating between feeling sick to the stomach with anxiety; and hating herself for being so worried for him. She winced when Abby nudged her to get her attention and nodded in the direction of the screen.

The analyst- a senior lecturer in ethics in the modern age according to her caption- was speaking in clipped tones.

__Well Meaghan, I would show them this footage and ask if they still felt the same way. This “man” is a weapon, and the American people, the **world** is supposed to just accept him as an Avenger just because he grew up with Captain America?_ _

The host shuffled some papers on her desk.

_Professor Anders, you can’t deny that the Winter Soldier’s actions over the past twelve months have been responsible for saving many lives, both American and non-American_

The view switched back to the interviewee.

_Oh please, I suspect that’s hardly a drop in the ocean towards clearing the red from his ledger. Don’t get me wrong Meaghan, I thank the Avengers for their service. But being thankful for some lives saved doesn’t negate the measures taken to do so. And I think that everybody should be concerned when those measures include rage monsters and former assassins who could well be sleeper cells who could turn on us at any point._

“Turn it off JARVIS,” Darcy said quietly, feeling sick all over again; but for a different reason now.

The footage of Barnes was everywhere; and to a casual observer, someone who didn’t know the look in his eyes when he was drowning his sorrows in a dive bar: it _was_ frightening. He was relentless, almost cruel looking as he stalked the street. But he had just been doing his job. Opinions were divided across social media and news. Some people felt the same way Darcy did, but many seemed to echo the ideas of Professor Anders.

Abby threw worried glances at her for the rest of the day but Darcy stayed hunched over her work, only stirring when Jane left after six.

“Promise you’ll leave soon?” she asked.

Darcy nodded and started to clean up her desk as the door closed. It was then that she noticed she’d missed an IM from Myles, the fabulous assistant of the equally fabulous Pepper Potts.

_Hey girl, PP wants to see you. She has availability tomorrow morning, first thing. Can you make it?_

What the hell could Pepper Potts want with her?

She shrugged and typed back a message in the affirmative before shutting her computer down for the night.

As she reached the door to the lab she stopped, casting her eyes up to the ceiling.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes Miss Lewis?” came the pleasant reply.

“Are they…are the Avengers okay?”

“Yes Miss Lewis.”

“All of them?”

“Sergeant Barnes is uninjured Miss Lewis.”

“Okay…” she sagged a little from the relief.

“JARVIS, can you get a…can you take a message? For Barnes?”

“It would be my pleasure Miss Lewis.”

“Great, can you tell him…”

She trailed off, trying to think of something that adequately captured the way she felt about the day’s events.

“Just tell him that I said ‘fuck ‘em all’!”.

Darcy made herself mac and cheese for dinner and ate it from the pot while she binge-watched the new season of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and ignored the news, she didn’t want to see anymore.

It was the middle of the night when Darcy heard the knock at her apartment door. She’d just turned in and was in that state where she was almost half asleep. She jerked awake, flicked on her bedside lamp and padded across to the door, opening it as far as the chain would allow.

Barnes was leaned up against the door jam, his eyes trained on the ground. She closed the door again, undid the chain and then opened it, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed across her chest.

He finally looked up and the emotion flitting through those big grey eyes made her heart lurch. It was all there, plain to see.

Darcy’s arms dropped to her side.

“I got your message,” he finally said.

She wanted to tell him that it hadn’t been an invitation. Wanted to hold on to the way she’d felt when he’d walked out on her the last time he’d been in her apartment. But his voice was small and broken and all of that melted away. She stepped back to let him in.

Darcy crossed to the refrigerator while Barnes closed the door. She heard the lock snick into place and a shiver ran down her back.

She kept a bottle of whiskey on top of the refrigerator. She pulled it out and poured two drinks, sliding one along the counter to Barnes and taking the opportunity to check him over. He had some cuts and bruises on his face, but nothing too drastic. He’d probably looked worse earlier but that super soldier system was working to patch him up quickly.

He downed his drink in one gulp and made a face.

“Bad day?” she asked and he grimaced.

“Something like that.”

“What do you need?” she asked, twisting her free hand in the soft fabric of her nightgown, bunching it and causing it to rise higher on her thighs. His eyes flicked down at the movement and she watched him wet his lips with a thrill.

“Just you Doll,” he replied.

She shook her head.

“Don’t give me a line Barnes,” she stepped close to him and laid her hand on his chest, feeling the heat rising from his skin through his sweater, “Just tell me what you need”.

“I need…I just need to forget,” he breathed, wilting against her- surrounding her; his breath falling on her bare shoulder.

“Let’s take care of that then,” she whispered.

She felt his hands slip to the small of her back, drawing her against him and she gasped. Then his lips were on hers and he was kissing her like a dying man. Any thoughts were immediately pushed away and all she could do was- feel.

He picked her up- lifting her like it was nothing- and depositing her on the counter. God help her, it felt right to be back in his arms. She shook her head to clear it. Couldn’t go thinking things like that.

She moved to take off her nightgown; but he stopped her, leaning forward to push the flimsy strips of silk off her shoulders himself and then cupped her breasts roughly.

Darcy wrapped her right leg around his hip to bring his body flush with her, feeling the hard outline of him through his jeans.

He groaned but then pulled back. Darcy opened her mouth to protest but any protests drifted away when she saw him dropping to his knees in front of her. His hands closed around her hips, tugging her roughly to the edge of the counter and then dragging her hot pink panties down her legs. Darcy closed her eyes, leaning her head against the counter behind her and trying to focus on just feeling as his hot breath brushed against her center.

She gasped as his tongue flicked out to brush against her, her hips jerking uncontrollably. His hands came up to her thighs, lifting them so that they rested on his strong shoulders. She fought not to clench her thighs as he teased her clit with the tip of his tongue, reaching out instead to bury her fingers in his messy hair. He moaned against her, sending vibrations throughout her body, and then he was fucking her with her tongue. Darcy moaned and writhed on the counter, trying to control the movement of her hips as he took apart with his mouth.

She could feel her orgasm building while he played her like an instrument. His left hand slid from her thigh and then she felt his fingers inside her, cool but no cold and stroking just where she needed them. She lost any tenuous control over her movements that she may have had, grinding herself against his face as she chased that feeling, his name on her lips like a vicious prayer as she came.

He stayed with her as she shook and cried out, licking against her with long, languid strokes until she moved onto little mewling noises. He nipped at her thighs as he rocked back on his heels and stood to his feet, undoing his jeans as he went.

Darcy reached out for him, pawing at his sweater and shoving it up to reveal his stomach and chest. He took the hint and tore the sweater off, casting it aside. He turned to her and paused.

“What?” she asked.

Barnes stared at the ground like it was talking to him and it was like she could feel him pulling him away from her. She took his hand and he looked up at her.

“Fuck me,” she whispered, taking his index finger into her mouth and sucking it.

A low groan erupted from him and he pressed his eyes shut for a moment, like he was steadying himself. She licked her way down to the tip of his finger.

“Come on Barnes,” she said, bucking her hips up towards him, “What the fuck are you waiting for?”

With a growl he closed in on her, restraining her wrists against the cupboard doors above her with his right hand – the pressure just this side of painful. He positioned himself with the other and drove into her all at once. His name stuttered from her lips. She moved on muscle memory, wrapping her legs around his slim hips again to take him deeper.

He slammed into her roughly. His eyes were on hers, his mouth hanging open just a little and she leaned forward as much as she could to capture his lips with hers.

The sensation of not being able to move her arms made her breath catch and her heart beat faster. In those moments her world was filled with the sight, sound and taste of him and she never wanted it to stop.

He pulled her closer to the edge of the counter, the metal fingers digging into her flesh and she bit her lip. He was hitting a new angle inside her and she felt pleasure start to coil in the pit of her stomach, rising in pitch.

She started babbling, her mouth running away with her as she told him how good he was, how he made her feel, to not stop, to never stop. She bit her lip again and then felt his grip on her wrists release; and then his hand was closing around her throat. She could feel her airways constrict and panic rise in her chest. Her eyes flew up to his, but they were blown wide only with lust.

His grip released a fraction and her panic died down, making way for heightened sensations all through her body. She was more than mildly surprised to realise that it had made her even hotter and she bucked her hips up to meet him as her orgasm tore through her

Barnes loosened his grip on her throat and tucked his head into the crook of her shoulder, driving into her twice more before he came.

His hand slipped from her throat as he staggered back from her.

“Did I…did I hurt you?”

She shook her head to clear it, to try and understand the question. When she looked at him, his eyes were unfocused and glassy, but in the set of his jaw she could sense concern, fear.

“No,” she whispered, “you wouldn’t”

He nodded and she reached out for him but he was moving away, towards the bathroom. Sighing, she climbed down from the counter gingerly and poured herself another drink before crossing to the bed.

The whiskey glass trembled in her hand as she raised it to her lips. She’d never wanted something before that she could never have. But she knew, in that moment she knew, she couldn’t have him.

A tear rolled down her cheek as the bathroom door opened. Her back was to him, but she heard him pad across to where his sweater lay on the floor.

“This can’t happen again,” she said, her voice hardly above a whisper. She knew he’d heard her perfectly though.

For a long while he was silent.

“Agreed,” he finally replied.

She listened as he moved towards the door and turned as he opened it. He stopped, staring at her.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re pretty when you cry” he said, before slipping into the hallway and pulling the door closed behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy has a new job, and no Bucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm so sorry for the delay in updating. Also, no smut in this chapter, but it will bridge things for you following a small time jump. You will also notice that there has been a title change to reflect the direction of the story. I hope you don't mind too much.

_Two months later_

The papers for the meeting were stacked neatly on her desk, sorted in the order that they would be referred to. The catering was already on the conference room table and she had filled the pitchers with water and arranged the drinking glasses herself. Darcy stepped back and allowed herself a moment to relax before distributing the papers.

In just two months it felt as though her whole life had been readjusted. Luckily she was kept so busy that she didn’t really have the time to dwell on it. 

 

__

_Two months earlier_

Darcy took a deep breath before pushing open the door to the lab. She smiled fondly at Abby hunched over her desk working on a machine, and Jane scribbling madly on a whiteboard. They both turned to look at her.

“Everything okay Darce?” Jane asked, unusually perceptive that morning. 

“Um…yeah…can I talk to you for a minute though Boss Lady?”

Jane had a small office at one end of the lab that she rarely used, so it mostly consisted of boxes. The two of them squeezed into it and Jane ran and appraising over her. 

“Why are you dressed up?”

Darcy smoothed her hands over the flared skirt of the navy blue work dress she’d worn that morning. She supposed she _did_ normally wear jeans and sweaters to work in the labs, with the occasional skirt or pair of heels thrown in for good measure. 

“I uh…”

“Oh. My. God” Jane said slowly, “You had a job interview!”

 

In fairness, Darcy hadn’t known it was a job interview when she’d agreed to go. She’d gotten hardly any sleep after Barnes had left and had completely forgotten about agreeing to meet with Pepper Potts in the morning. 

She’d suddenly remembered when she was lying in bed at 6.00 am, scrolling through her Facebook feed and had flown out of bed. Her eyes looked like they’d sunk back in her head and her hair was flat and greasy. 

A shower made her feel marginally better and she even managed to blow dry her hair into some semblance of order. The dress, a lovely jersey knit with three quarter sleeves, was an apology for her raccoon eyes and waxy complexion. 

She slipped on a coat and some heels and was on her way to the tower as soon as possible. 

Miles’ large corner desk was situated in an alcove just outside Pepper’s office, on one of the top floors of the tower. Darcy had never actually been to his desk, and had mostly seen him at company mixers or the coffee cart. 

When she’d arrived he had been waiting for her and had explained, in hushed tones as he ushered her towards the huge office ahead, that he had been promoted and had recommended her to replace him.

“You what?!” Darcy had cried, digging her heels in to the luscious carpet to physically stop him from dragging her any further. 

“You would be so perfect!” He hissed, tugging at her elbow, “but I knew if I told you you’d never have come up here”

“Damn straight,” Darcy replied, “I am so not qualified for this”

“You so are!” He countered, sighing upwards and disturbing his perfect hair, “besides, what are you going to do now? Stand her up?”

“But I’m not prepared, I’m not ready!” 

As Darcy babbled, Miles started dragging her towards the open doors again and knocked sharply.

Darcy heard Miss Potts’ voice ask them to come in.

Pepper was sitting behind a massive glass desk, the early morning Manhattan skyline behind her and casting a glow that made her seem even more ethereal and impossibly perfect. 

She stood as they entered the room and came around the table to shake Darcy’s hand.

“Thank you for coming in on such short notice Miss Lewis,” she said with a smile, before taking her seat again and indicating that Darcy should do the same. 

Miles loosened his grip and shoved her into the chair opposite Pepper.

“Thank you Miles”

He nodded at his boss and left the room. 

Pepper poured a glass of water for Darcy from a carafe on the desk and Darcy accepted it gratefully. 

“I’m not sure how much Miles has told you about the role,” Pepper began, “but essentially you would be my assistant which would involve managing my diary, handling incoming requests, conducting research and reporting on your findings, managing the small staff we have in this area of the business and being involved in certain projects where appropriate”

Darcy swallowed around the lump in her throat. 

“I uh…”

Pepper looked at her. 

“I don’t really think that I’m…qualified…”

Pepper frowned and looked down at a slip of paper in front of her.

“Miles prepared a brief biography,” she explained, “and I can see from this that you have a degree in Political Science and you have been acting as an assistant to Doctor Foster for several years”

“Well…yes, I mean…it’s not really the same”

“You come very highly recommended,” Pepper said, “I understand if you don’t want the job”

“I’d miss Jane!” Darcy blurted out as her cheeks coloured. Pepper smiled at her.

“Darcy, I understand loyalty better than most. But you’re over qualified for the role you’re in. It would better suit a student. And you don’t have any growth opportunities in that sector. With this role you would meet people and make connections that could open up endless opportunities”

Darcy nodded, she knew that what Pepper was saying was true. 

“I don’t know how important this is to you,” Pepper continued, “but the remuneration is far more significant than your current role. And of course you would have an apartment here in the tower”

“Really?”

Pepper nodded.

“Occasionally there will be late nights, particularly early mornings, and even travel. It would be prudent to have you close at hand. I’ve had Miles prepare a proposal for you, along with a letter of offer. Take it, think it over, perhaps talk to Doctor Foster, and let us know what you decide.”

 

“Well you have to take it” Jane said once Darcy had finished the story of her odd meeting with Pepper. 

“Jesus, are you really so keen to get rid of me?”

“Of course not, but she’s right Darce. You’re way too smart and talented to be doing data entry for me. Besides, with you living in the tower, we might end up seeing even more of each other”.

 

__

_Back in Present Day_

That day, two months earlier, Darcy had gone straight to her desk and rung Miles, who had patched her through to Miss Potts and she had accepted the offer without even looking at the letter.

Later she found that Miss Potts had been modest when she described the remuneration, and the apartment turned out to have two bedrooms. Abby, who had been paying a small fortune to share a shitty house with some flatmates in Queens, didn’t need much convincing to take the second room. 

The fabulous Miles had been indispensible, organising removalists, briefing Darcy on her new role and taking her to meet the key people she’d be working with, and even arranging a shopping trip to pick up some new work threads when she casually mentioned that perhaos her ripped jeans and thrift store sweaters might not cut it on the top floors. She’d wondered if she would ever be half as competent as him, and how long she would be able to keep up the charade as Pepper’s assistant before she would inevitably be shown the door.

It turned out though that Miles had been right. She was pretty damn good at being Pepper’s assistant, and especially having a small team to direct. For the first time in her life she was feeling like a real leader. And Pepper was a dream to work for, thoughtful and understanding, but uncompromising at the same time which made Darcy always strive to work better and harder. 

She laid out the last paper and had just returned to her desk when she heard a familiar voice. 

“Need some extra hands?” 

She smiled and looked up into a set of pale blue eyes. 

“Thanks Mac, but everything’s ready”

“Then how about a coffee?”

He produced a coffee from the cart on the fourteenth floor and Darcy made grabby hands for it, making him chuckle. 

“I was down there checking on the details for the trip to Budapest and I couldn’t walk past without getting your favourite.”

Mac was one of the security detail for Pepper, and occasionally Darcy, and was kind of a fixture around the place. Not that Darcy minded when all six foot three of him looked like Michael Paré when he made _Eddie and the Cruisers_.

He was a nice, very pretty distraction, especially after the way she had ended things with Barnes. By the time her world slowed down enough to notice, she realised that he was gone. She’d overheard Natasha and Steve talking in the hall one afternoon and it sounded as though he was manning the facility upstate. 

All told, the new job had been a blessed distraction from that disastrous final night, and had his disappearance from the tower. Out of sight, it seemed, truly was out of mind. Well, not entirely. But for the most part she had been able to lick her wounds and start to recover from the disastrous few weeks of whatever the fuck they had been. Abby had even gotten her signed up on Tinder. 

Darcy took the coffee gratefully and gulped some down while Mac took a seat by Pepper’s office door. 

She was about to ask him what kind of information about the trip to Budapest he could possible have been getting on the fourteenth floor, which was mostly food courts, when she spied Tony Stark out of the corner of her eye, and he was making a beeline for Pepper’s closed office doors. Darcy slammed her coffee down on the desk and rushed to bar the doors, just barely beating him.

“Out of the way new-Miles” 

Tony paced in front of her, his eyes cast down. Darcy stood her ground. Finally he stopped pacing.

“Come on kid, I need to see Pep”

“No way Mr Stark. Miss Potts is in a meeting with the Chairman and then she is going straight into a briefing in the conference room. She can’t be interrupted.”

She didn’t miss the smirk that crossed Mac’s pretty lips. 

Tony took a step back and scrutinized her for a moment. 

“Look…Miss…”

Darcy groaned.

“Lewis, my name is Darcy Lewis, you _know_ this”

He waved her away.

“Look Miss Lewis, you _do_ realise whose name is on the deed to this building don’t you? This building where you live…rent free?”

Darcy took a deep breath.

“Mr Stark, I realise that your name is on the deed. But I think we all know who really runs this building. And _she_ has given me very strict instructions. _No interruptions _.”__

__Tony nodded, unable to argue with that logic, and then switched tracks._ _

__“Lewis, I like you. You’ve got grit. Miles would have let me in, but not you. Tell you what, we’re having games night up on the eighty-sixth tonight. You should come along; starts at seven-thirty. Bring ice cream”_ _

__With that he was gone._ _

__“Sounds like you have a date” Mac said with a grin while Darcy groaned and let her head fall back against Pepper’s door._ _


End file.
